Filing-cabinet.



W. GOODNEY.

FlLING CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-16,19lfh Patented Mar. '13, 191" 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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A TTOR/VEY W. G GOODNEY..

FlLlNG CABINET.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-16,1915.

Patented Mar. 13, 1917! 2 SHEETS-SHEEI' 2.

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' WITNESSES: 5% WWW A TTOR/VEY WILLIAM G. GOODNEY, 0F STAMBAUGH,MICIIIGQAN.v

FILING-CABINET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar; 153, 1917;.

Applicationfiled October 16, 1915'. SerialNo; 56,170

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VILLIAM Gr. GOODNEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Stambaugh, in the county of Iron, State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and {useful Improvements in Filing-Cabinets;

and I do declare the followingto be a. full, clear, and exactdescription of. the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it a-ppertains to make and use the same, reference beinghad to the accompany-- ing drawings, and to the characters of referencemarked thereon, which form. apart of this specification.

This invention relates to filing cabinets, and consists in the novelfeatures of construction and arrangements of parts as hereinafter setforth and claimed.

The invention has for its object the provision of a case or cabinet ofsimple and improved construction especially adapted for filing bills,invoices, accounts, etc., wherein the arrangement is such as to providefor the distribution and indexing of the matter to be filed so as torender it readily accessible for reference, removal and replacement, andwherein provision is made for pivotally supporting the cabinet to renderit revoluble for operation upon opposite sides, and also to enable it tobe tilted to facilitate access to the contents, and in the provision ofmeans for securely retaining the contents against loss throughaccidental misplacement.

In attaining the above object the invention contemplates the employmentof a pair of cases which are pivotally mounted to re volve upon avertical axis and are each provided with a plurality of compartmentscontaining trays or drawers for the reception of the matter to be filed.Each of these trays is hingedly and slidably mounted in its compartment,wherein it is normally retained under the tension of an expansive coiledspring, by means of which the trays are re tained in an inclinedposition when withdrawn from the cabinet and are automatically returnedwithin the cabinet when raised to a positionin registering alinement totheir compartments.

A preferred embodiment of the novel features of the invention by whichthe above object is attained is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which,

Figure'l is a. sideelevation; of the cabinet; 1n 1ts closed or normalposition, having a:

portion of one of the cabinet;sections'broken' away to show thetraysor'drawers therein,

and indicatingby dottedlines the tilted orinclined position of thesectionsaswhen' in operation.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the cabinet, in its closed positiom Fig.3 isaplan view of'the cabinet, sec.- tions having a portion of oneoffthesections broken away andshowings thetrays or drawers in position:therein.

Fig. 4 is a centralverticali longitudinal sectional view through oneofthetrayseand; a. portion of the cabinet section, showing the traywithdrawn and; indicating; by dotted: lines the inclined position of"the tray when, in use.

Fig. 5 is-a-n enlarged. horizontal sectional elevation through one ofthe compartments;

containing a tray'and showing it supported therein upon right angledguide strips upon. opposite sidesof vertical partitions, and

hinged at itsrear-end to-a cross stripzadapt ed to slide upon the guidestrips and toengage at its ends with face strips at the for:- ward endof said guide strips to limit the outward movement of the tray.

Fig. 6 is a transverse fragmentary sectional View through a portion ofa' cabinet section containing a tray, and taken. on. dotted line 6-6 ofFig.

Referring to the parts of. the-device-by the characters of referencemarked on the sev-- eral views of the drawings, 1. designates thecabinet sections, of which there are two, and which are mounted back to.back. andpivotally supported upon horizontal crossarms 2 and 3respectively, positioned; at the top and bottom between saidscctions.The up per ends of the sections 1 are pivotally connected tothe ends ofthe cross-armfiby strap. hinges 4 which embrace at thenrinner ends:

the ends of the cross-arm 2. and. are secured at their outer ends byscrews as at 5' to. the

upper ends of said sections. The-lower" ends of thesesections-are-eachpivotally connected to the ends of the cross-arms 3 by knucklejointed.foldabl'e braces 6, each of which is pivoted at one-end. toswing upontheend; of

said arm and is pivotally connected at: its opposite end toan. ear 7secured: tothelower end of corresponding cabinet section. llach of thehorizontal cross-arms 2 and 3 is pivoted at its center to swinghorizontally in the are of a circle upon a vertical standard 8 which ismounted at itslower end in a flanged base 9 upon which said standard andcabinetsections are supported. By this arrangement the cabinet as awhole may be revolved upon said standard and either of its sections maybe tilted or swung outwardly to an angular position upon its hingedconnections with the cross-arm 2 by drawing outwardly upon the lower endthereof to open and spread the knucklejointed braces 6 to their fullextended positions, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1,

.in which position it is normally set for op eration.

The sections or cases of the cabinet which are of rectangular orbox-like formation are each provided with a vertical series ofcontiguous compartments formed therein by vertical dividing partitions10 in conjunction with the end walls 11 of said sections, and secured tothe inner faces of these walls and to opposite faces of said partitionsis a series of adjoining L-shaped angle strips 12, each of which has itsbody portion positioned vertically and abutting at its upper edgeagainst the laterally projecting foot portion of the adjoining strip touniformly space and form between said foot portions guide ways 13. (SeeFigs. 3 and 6.)

Mounted to slide in each opposed pair of the guide ways 13 is a tray ordrawer 14 of which there is a. plurality in each of the series ofcompartments of the cabinet sections, and each of these drawers ispivotally connected at its rear end to the lower edge of a. cross strip15 by hinges 10. The ends of this strip project beyond the sides of thedrawer and extend into the guide ways 13 in the form of shoulders 17,which are adapted to engage with vertical face strips 18 at the outerends of said guide ways to serve as stops for limiting the outwardmovement of the drawer against withdrawal therefrom, as clearly shown inFigs. 4c and The upper edge of the sides and forward end of the drawersare turned inwardly in the form of a marginal stiffening flange 19, andlocated within these flanged edges, upon opposite sides of the drawer,are expansive coiled springs 20, one end of each of which is attached tothe rear wall of the case or section 1 and extending through a slottedaperture 21 formed through the cross rail 15 is secured at its oppositeend to the inner face of the front end 22 of said drawer, which. underthe tension of said springs, is normally held in position within thecase, as shown in Figs. 3 and The front end 22 of each drawer whichprojects outwardly from the case is provided in its under face with aconcavity 23 to form a finger hold,

and is beveled or inclined inwardly from its lower edge to affordclearance between ndjacent drawers for the fingers in gaining access tosaid concavity by which said drawer may be drawn outwardly against thetension of its springs. A depression 24 is formed in the inclined faceof the end of the drawer for the reception of an index tag or label, notshown, by which the contents may be indicated, and the bottom of saiddrawer is provided near its forward end with an aperture 25 for theadmission of a. finger from the under side to raise and assist inremoving the contents therefrom.

It should now be clear from the foregoing description that the cabinetmay be readily revolved to bring either of the sections into convenientposition for manipulation of the drawers by the operator; that bytilting either of the sections to the angular position indicated in Fig.1 the inclination of the drawer fronts will be such as to clearlypresent the index labels to the view of the operator, enabling the quicklocation and selection to be made of the desired drawer or drawers; thatupon Withdrawing the drawer to its fully extended position with itshinged strips engaging the front strips of the guide Ways and byswinging it downwardly upon its hinged connection with said strip to theinclined position indicated in Fig. 4, said drawer will be retainedunder the tension of its springs by contact at its rear end with theforward ends of the guide way angles, and in this position will exposethe contents for convenient inspection, removal or replacement, and thatby raising the drawer from its angular position to alinement with itsguide ways it will be automatically returned and normally retained bythe contraction of the coiled springs within its compartment of thecabinet.

In connection with the description and disclosures of the preferred formof construction of the essential features. the invention is presented asincluding all such changes and modifications as properly come within thescope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a filing cabinet, a supporting standard, cabinet sections hingedtogether at their upper ends and rotatably mounted on said standard,jointed braces hingedly connecting the lower ends of the cabinetsections and adapted to unfold outwardly to extend said sections toangular positions relatively with said standard, a plurality of drawersslidably mounted in each of the sections, and means for yieldablyretaining said drawers normally within said sections.

2. In a filing cabinet, a supporting standard, upper and lowerhorizontal cross arms rotatably mounted on said standard, cabinetsections hingedly connected together and to said upper cross arm toswing thereon and rotate therewith, jointed braces hingedly connectingthe lower ends of the cabinet sections to said lower cross ,arin, saidbraces adapted to unfold outwardly to extend said sections to angularpositions relatively with said standard, a plurality of drawers slidablymounted in each of the sections, and

elastic members connecting said drawers with said sections for normallyretaining said drawers therein.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

WILLIAM G. GOODNEY.

